Long Cork Poems

How I Got Richer and What I Did Next



I struck a sly deal with some Wall Street investors.
I shorted 'em stocks that didn't exist!
But they got me back (those post-empty-nesters)
by making fake deals I couldn't...

Read More

I met with some bankers in fine textured suits.
I struck a deal quick. (I had such a knack.)
I offered rare cacti and tropical fruits – 
a cure-all for things that ail your back.

I served 'em...

Read More

Note: This is the 2nd half of one of my MANY long story works, and the 1st half can be accessed, of course, at "poems by Mark Stellinga" on the soup.
My wife and I were...

Read More

from island corner, big Antrim lad
  to Belfast city, a tiny pad
  shattered windows, tilted clocks
  Goliath had lost his socks
  gargantuan giant going mad

  Armagh apple girl, any topic
...

Read More

Justin Von Depathos strode across the ballroom floor 
To sit with Carlton Vishizwa and Charlotte Genivieve, 
While I watched, in silent fascination, from the door,
The “major players” waltzing ‘round the room that Friday eve.

Thurston Beaumont...

Read More

At the final stroking of saint Halloween eve, it seems not so long ago,
That my trusty SUV, transport vehicle unceremoniously broke down,
Right outside the local pet cemetery, what a marvelous place to
Spend the spookiest night...

Read More

Oi be nowt but an auld country hick,
we a liddle bit of gall, an a lotta stick.
Oi baint niver afeared to speak me mind,
nor critizise folks harshly iffen Oi find
zummit I don’t loik.  Tis...

Read More

“The ribbon is cut
 The die is cast
 The cement is dry
 Yet nothing lasts
 The brazen rewarded
 The hero a fool
 All reason outdated
 New fury the tool”

A journey presented
Your ship to go far
With...

Read More

[My recent poem ‘The Dimly Lit House’ received a
Comment from Charles Messina that it could be a Tom and 
Jerry episode… what can I say? Something went ‘Ping!’]

       ...

Read More

V.1: I know I acted like an odd fool
When I told you I’m not at school
I know I acted like I was so smart, 
But that’s all bull, not my work of art

Pre-chapter: You got...

Read More

1. A constant smile is the alabaster
for struggle’s ornaments be made faster
average looks with a smile can be labial
its absence points to problems so filial,
may not keep the wolf away from the door
or deliver salvation...

Read More

In 1920, my father, 16, was a guest of the British government. He was a prisoner of their forces occupying Ireland at the time, a group called the Black and Tans.

One day he and seven...

Read More

There is a water glint,
just shining through the copse beyond.
Autumn's sinking sun, 
barred by spindle trees and the last 
of summer's brindled reeds 
and sedge and rush that fringe this stilling pond.
.
 
Damp leaves hide...

Read More

It has often been said that empires come and go
And from the beginning of time that has been so
Empires ruled with terror and an iron fist
Taking brutal action against those, who tried to resist.

On the...

Read More

WITHIN THE BRIGHTEST NIGHT (Part 11)

He placed the flower back in the middle of the floor. He walked back over to the door. There was a handle on the other side.
I'll open it.

He lifted the...

Read More

WITHIN THE BRIGHTEST NIGHT (Part 11)

He placed the flower back in the middle of the floor. He walked back over to the door. There was a handle on the other side.
I'll open it.

He lifted the...

Read More

It was glorious ...

A glorious, glowing morn ...
crimson crept up the sky, as if air-brushed ...
little round globs of fair-weather clouds tiptoed on the reach,
(so as to not wake the moon, laying down its head...

Read More

I was chatting with a friend the other day when I suddenly realized I’d missed a good chunk of the conversation. My brain jumped off the focus train without my being aware of it and...

Read More

Among an unnamed female person known within mine black barbed ken

Analogous to black box
holding untold secrets,
(after deadly plane crash
no survivors except 
a journeyman foreigner),
I share the following self
introspection with ye dear readers,
which purported hidden truths
might...

Read More

Paddy

His name is Padraig Torrin McWheaten of County Cork, esq. – Paddy for short!  He is Celtic mischief with deep brown eyes the color of Irish sod, a big, black gumdrop nose and a...

Read More

The Little Master, Sachin Tendulkar

At Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai,
   The Little Master chose to say good-bye;
His Rembrandtesque canvass hat shading eyes,
   He whispered thanks up to high-open skies.

Gods spurned earth but...

Read More

Thomas always asked questions
That is how he learned his lessons 
To celebrate the end of third grade 
Books were exchanged for a trip in a fair trade 
His class went to the local magic show...

Read More

We’re (my roommates and I) at a specific time of youth - a time I’ll call “close.” We aren’t fully adults but we’re close, we’re not completely out and independent, but we’re close. And once...

Read More

A chopstick is just a utensil.
But a chopstick can
trigger that
uncontrollable laughter
and smiles at the dinner table.
When one snaps, we chuckle.
When someone can’t use them properly,
we giggle.
When someone eats with them,
we ridicule.

Chopsticks are an icon of...

Read More

Three Ice-Dragons of Zaath, are faring South,
They strip the landscape barren of all Love.
Each holds a lifeless Champion in its mouth,
Each imitates the wolf, and mocks the Dove…

Beware their icy maws, their shepherds’ clothing,
For they...

Read More